Better late then never...Great job on the Pond Boss Conference in Arlington!!!
Enjoyed being apart of that....
Wanted to get your thoughts on a couple of things. I recently completed drilling a well to service one of my new ponds. Got lucky and ended up with a nice well pumping 55gpm.
Question #1---
Bob Lusk once said most well water is fine for fish but here is what is bad for fish.
-Water with high salt content
-Water high in nitrates
-Too much phosphate
I recently had the water tested and found the water to be very hard, PH 7.9, Total Soluble Salts -TSS in ppm- 764, Nitrate-N ppm <1, and did not see anything listed on phosphates.
Does this water seem too salty?? Bob mentioned it should not be greater than 2500ppm, what is considered high? low?
I am running that water down about 80 yards of waterfalls in a runoff draw to help oxygenate the water.
Question #2--
We have had good rains finally and all my new ponds have filled and are spilling. I completed the stocking on all but my new biggest pond which is 5 acres in size. I am committed to making this a great trophy bass pond and am stocking with CNBG,REBG,FATHEADS, and BASS ONLY.
The pond was not full in May but I had enough water to have confidence to do some initial stocking. I put in 20# of Fatheads, 600 CNNG, and 200 REBG. Since then in June with good rains the pond has filled completely. I am thinking of letting the pond settle out and stocking remaining bluegill--750 per acre-- + 50lb of fatheads in September. My question? Is it worth letting the pond sit and cook for a year or so or should I just come back and stock the bass the following May?? If I don't pick up any advantage on the forage base that is meaningful I might just stock the bass in September with the forage fish. I am thinking about 750 bass unless you think I would be better off with 500?
Thanks for you input on these questions!!
